Magic and the Machine

99% Invisible

31

MAR/17

The party stands at the mouth of the cave, wary to enter. Edward calls upon Ter to determine if there is any evil in the area and the cave is indeed evil! At the mouth of the cave and in the water there are shiny flecks and signs of orichalcum.

The Witch is invisible – #1 spots the witch's footprints leaving on the opposite side of the lake and lets loose an Eldritch Blast, somehow hitting her.

No one else gets a hit in, but we try. Edward releases his bees attempting to hunt the witch down.

Suddenly, an Elf Woman (Ragedd Anwen) with black and silver armor steps out of the cave. She insists that we leave the area as the effects of the Reagent cause many different health problems in Elves, apparently.

#1 telepathically senses something strange from the Elf Woman and says "I DON'T BELIEVEYOU" the elf twitches and acts weird. #1 blasts her again, and her mask is ripped away revealing the twisted witchy creature from before. The party starts to move in, ready to attack. The Ragedd Anwen turns invisible again!

We enter the cave and see a spartan living area. Edward's bees, using their heightened sense of smell, are able to locate the creature and help the party target the invisible witch!

The Ragedd Anwen sneaks up on #1 and uses her twisted claws to brutally maul her – #1 is badly injured, but Eddie, empowered with the light of Ter finally destroys the monster with an might holy smite.

A door in the cave opens and we hear a muffled cry … inside the next room is a small human girl, defenseless, or so she seems. Consulting her Book of Shadows, #1 learns that the girl was dead and her body was possessed by an evil fae. From her studies in the Biology department at the University of Growth, Jia relays that some Fae need to collect human children to reproduce.

After a terse discussion, #12 takes action, shooting the "girl" in cold blood. Eddie is devastated – he was hoping to save her somehow. He finds a locket around her neck with a picture of a dark haired human woman, presumably the girl's mother.

When the party returns to camp, Elder Wisdom informs them that she has had a vision: Makbar and Chuul are on their way with a heavily armed platoon to retrieve the Ceramic Automaton. Elder Wisdom and Petey Pyro want to use the automaton as bait to lead the platoon into a trap – they have one more bomb left. As the pull the bomb out Jia notices that it is no manufactured item – in fact it is a highly magical dragon egg! The party tries convincing Elder Wisdom and Petey Pyro to save the egg, but they are deadset – this is the perfect opportunity for them to "take care of" Makbar and Chuul for good and give them a chance to return to Steadwick in their place.

The party wants to save the dragon egg – they see it as a valuable resource, the NPCs are not convinced. So, while Elder Wisdom, Petey Pyro and Riptide are helping the rest of the camp move out – the party steals the Egg and high-tails it for The Low Path.